Churches put aside differences, pray for religious freedom

The Rev. Robby Barrett, minister of education at First Baptist Church in Amarillo, prepares for the fifth Inter-Faith Prayer Services for Religious Liberty. The service is scheduled Thursday at First Baptist Church.

Every month since June, churches across the city have put aside their differences to pray together for the common good of preserving religious freedom.

On Thursday, First Baptist Church, 1208 S. Polk St., will host the fifth Inter-Faith Prayer Services for Religious Liberty, an event that has drawn crowds from 750 to 900 people from a variety of Christian denominations.

“They’ve been well attended,” said Robby Barrett, the minister of education at First Baptist Church, “especially as we approach the upcoming elections.

“One of the neatest things for me was to be able to look out at a sea of people — a handful of people I knew — and get to remember that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves.”

The first prayer meeting was at St. Mary’s Cathedral, the second at Trinity Fellowship Church, the third at Arena of Life Church and the fourth took place at Polk Street United Methodist Church, with sponsorship by the Downtown Women’s Center.

The host church gets to add its own flavor to the one-hour service by organizing the prayer, speakers and worship.

Barrett said First Baptist plans to have four speakers: Howard Griffin from First Presbyterian, Father Phu Phan from St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Canyon, Howard Batson from First Baptist Church and Boon Vongsurith, the minister to Loatians at First Baptist.

“Boon actually left his country of Laos during times of persecution,” Barrett said. “He swam the Kong River to escape, so he’s going to share a little of his story to speak to religious freedom. The Christian life was very, very difficult for him there in Laos.”

The idea for the prayer originated at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo after the Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate required three of their Catholic ministerial areas to provide full insurance coverage that included contraceptives, which is against Catholic teachings, Bishop Patrick Zurek said.

While the mandate exempted the parishes and the Diocese from the mandate, they did not exempt the arms of the church, including the teaching ministries, health care and charity care.

“The mandate basically said those are not legitimate ministries of the church,” Zurick said. “In short, the government was telling us what Christian ministry is from our perspective as a Catholic community.”

At first, Zurek wanted to bring the Catholic people together to pray.

“Then I thought, ‘Why should I just invite Catholics? Would it be possible to go ask the non-Catholic Christians of the city to join us?’ Because it’s not a birth control issue; it’s an issue of freedom with religion,” Zurek said.

He was hesitant at first, he said. “But I thought, ‘Well, you know, you can’t always be quiet. Sometimes you have to act.’”

This year, several Sisters from the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ began praying for the nation every Friday night.

“We were praying and interceding, asking the Spirit to direct us, and we started getting this inspiration that united prayer of all the churches together was the answer for bringing our nation back to God,” Sister Bernadette said.

About the time they started talking with people about their plans for an inter-faith prayer, Zurek began enacting his plan. Zurek formed a committee — two priests and two lay people — to reach out to the leadership of area churches.

It seemed everywhere they turned, they found open doors.

“It’s been beautiful,” Sister Bernadette said. “All I can say is that this is something that has been totally God-inspired. Each prayer has been truly anointed by the Lord. There is such a sense of his presence in the gathering, such a sense of unity.”

She said she thinks the service is a fulfillment of a passage in John 17, where Jesus prayed for the church to be one.

“Somehow walls are coming down — walls of division, walls of misunderstanding, walls of hurt. I know different people have expressed to us how it has touched their lives, and how it has changed their lives,” Sister Bernadette said.

“It’s like in this quite subtle way God has been changing us and transforming us, and uniting the body of Christ.”